This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-017641, filed Jan. 31, 2011 and which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus.
2. Related Art
For example, JP-A-2007-15409 and JP-A-5-261934 disclose an ink jet printer as an exemplary form of a liquid ejecting apparatus.
The ink jet printer according to JP-A-2007-15409 includes a mechanism that displaces a pressure receiver of a self-closing valve, serving to control ink supply pressure to a liquid ejecting head, by applying an external force with a cam to the pressure receiver, to thereby discharge bubbles from the pressure chamber of the self-closing valve.
In the printer according to JP-A-5-261934, ink is supplied to the ink chamber through a second ink tank, a first ink tank, and a reservoir. The second ink tank includes a mechanism that stirs the ink by driving a motor so as to rotate a propeller, and an ink pressure controller is provided between the first ink tank and the second ink tank.
In the foregoing printers, it is essential to constantly stabilize the ink ejecting condition and performance, in order to maintain high printing quality. Accordingly, a pressure control unit such as a pressure-regulating valve or a damper that stores the ink so as to control the pressure thereof is provided in the ink flow path connecting between the ink cartridge and the ink jet head. Such a pressure control unit inevitably delays the flow of the ink owing to its required function, which leads to a disadvantage in that, in the case where a pigment dispersion ink is employed, ingredients of the solvent are prone to deposit in the ink flow path.
Although the mechanism according to JP-A-2007-15409 that displaces the pressure receiver of the self-closing valve by applying an external force with the cam to the pressure receiver can be expected to stir up the deposited ingredients when discharging the bubbles, the mechanism requires a complicated structure.
Likewise, the mechanism according to JP-A-5-261934 that stirs the ink by driving the motor so as to rotate the propeller also requires a complicated structure. In addition, a space for stirring the ink in which at least the propeller can be placed is necessary in order to incorporate such a stirring mechanism, which leads to an increase in size of the printer.